Art of cleaning and washing raw sugar



(No Model.)

M. WEINRIOH; ARTOF CLEANING AND WASHING RAW SUGAR. No. 474,585.

Patented May 10, 189.2.

gravity of the mixing material.

PATENT MORIZ WEINRIOH, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ART OF CLEANING AND WASHING RAW SUGAR,

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,585, dated May 10, 1892.

Application filed January 5, 1891. Serial No. 376.776. (No model.) Patented in England April 5, 1890, No. 5,282; in Germany T May 24, 1890, No. 54,336, and in France October 2, 1890, No 208,606.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MORIZ Wnrnnron, of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Cleaning and Washing Raw Sugar, (for which Letters Patent have been granted in Germany, No. 54,336, dated May 24, 1890; in England, No. 5,282, dated April 5, 1890, and in France, No. 208,606, dated October 2,1800;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the cleaning of raw sugar or of masse-cuite by washing off all the molasses coating the sugar crystals in such a way that none of the crystallized sugar is dissolved, and that on the one hand a well-purified sugar is obtained and on the other hand a low molasses is also obtained. To attain this object I proceed in the following way: The raw sugar is mixed intimately with a certain amount of concentrated sirup, hot or cold, and with eight to thirty per cent. of its weight of an indifferent, light, and porous materialas, for instance, comminuted cork, corncobs, wood, bagasse, wood-char, bone-char, or any other suitable matter. By indifferent material I mean such as do not change or alter the composition of the sugar or sirup brought in contact with it, but which acts mechanically only by rendering the mass porous. The size of this material ought to be about one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in diameter and as equal as possible. The added percentage varies according to the grain and quality of the treated sugar and according to the specific This mixture (which ought to have about the concentration of what is known in the art as massecuite when it is put into a centrifugal machine) is now allowed to run into vessels or cells having the shape of and being connected among themselves like a diffusion-battery. Each of these cells has to be provided with a perforated top plate made of wrought or cast iron and of the same diameter as the cell itself. The center of this plate is removable and taken out during the filling of the cell. The plate is equipped with proper guides. During the washing process it lies loose on top of the mass, the object being to hold the mass down, preventing the passing sirup from separating the mixing material from the sugar and forming channels in the mass.

In the drawings, whichillustrate one memher or cell of a series of cells or vessels suitable for practicing my process, Figure 1 represents a central vertical section of the upper portion of a closed washing-vessel; Fig. 2, its perforated top plate, and Fig. 3 the central removable center piece of such plate.

In the figures, 0. indicates a manhole; b, the perforated top plate, held by chains 0; d, the removable center piece; 6, guides of round iron to prevent the loose top from shifting; f, a hole left in the top plate for the purpose of filling, and g holes for the guides e. The battery communicates with a tank standing forty to eighty feet above it and containing 0011- centrated white liquor or decree. This tank is always connected with that vessel in which the cleaning or washing of the raw sugar is the most advanced, so that the white liquor takes 0% only the last impurities from the sugar crystals. From this vessel the sirup passes over and through one or more of the other vessels (and in case that hot sirup is used it may become, by passing from one cell to the other, advantageously heated up by a so-called calorisator, like the juice passing through a diffusiou-battery,) until it is completely charged with impurities and has the composition of a low molasses. The process can be carried out with the same advantage in such a way that the raw sugar mixed with the indifferent material, but without any sirup, is put first in the cells and the si'rup then allowed to run over the mixture and take up by and by the impurities. In this way a continuous and economical working can be attained similar to that in a diffusion-battery. From the last-filled cell is drawn off first a certain amount of molasses and putaside for other purposes. Then so .much of the remaining and somewhat better sirup is drawn off as will be necessary to mix with the sugar for one of the following cells. This done, the cell is connected with the other or following cell,which was filled in the meantime and at which the same procedure now begins. In some cases, especially if the treated sugar is of low quality and the molasses drawn off of a very tough nature,I prefer to accelerate the passing of the sirup by forming a vacuum under the false bottom of the cell by means of an air-pump, as practiced frequently in the sugar industry. 15 y the phrase of a very tough nature I mean a molasses that is very clammy, sticky, and gummy and difficult to be separated from the sugar crystals coated by it. As soon as the sugar in the vessel or cell connected with the white-liquor tank is sufficiently washed, it is disconnected and this tank now connected with the next or following cell. The white liquor remaining in the cell can be drawn off and pumped back into the tank above. In case that the thus cleaned crystals are destined to be remelted, the whole mass is put in a melting-pan, the sugar melted, and the solution separated from the indifferent material, which is then again used at once. If the sugar is to go into direct consumption, then the whole mass is taken out of the cell and passed through some sifting apparatus, which separates the crystals from the indifferent material and which may be constructed in such a way that it will simultan eously dry the sugar. The indifferent, light, and porous material enables and facilitates greatly the washing of the crystals by the passing sirup, making the whole mass spongy and elastic, and thus preventing the sugar from hardening and packing togethr r,

a faultiness which if existing would make the whole process impracticable. The process can be worked also to the same advantage without applying any pressure in the cells, especially if very large cells holding from thirty thousand pounds to forty thousand pounds of sugar are used. In this case it is best and cheapest to have the cells open on top; but they (as also the closed cells) have to be provided with perforated top plates. That kind of sirup running off which is destined to traverse anothercell has to be pumped over to it. The addition of such indifferent material to raw sugar destined to become washed in centrifugal machines is also of great advantage, especially if the sugar be of low quality and fine grain, as it accelerates the passing of the washing solutions and prevents the small crystals from being pressed through the meshes of the sieve.

My method can be applied with equal advantage to masse-cuite, and in this case the addition of any sirup to the mass is unnecessary.

That I claim as new and as my invention The improvement in the art of cleaning and washing raw sugar or masse-cuite, which consists in mixing it with an indifferent, light, and porous material, as described, placing such mixed material in a vessel, and washing such mixture with sirup while contained in said vessel, substantially as described.

Dated this 2d day of January, 1891.

MORIZ WVElNRICl-l.

\Vitnesses:

O. O. I-IARTMAN, A. R. HARTMAN. 

